I Can Live with That
by Bettakappa
Summary: Juliette overhears Avery talking to Scarlett in the hospital. Are they able to work it out before Juliette sets her sites on self-destruction? Of course they are! My take on what could have happened after Scarlett's crying-under-the-piano episode.


I Can Live with That

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**A/N: Hey everyone! This is just a quick one-shot I had lying around. It takes place right after Scarlett had her crazy episode in Crazy. This is my interpretation of what _could_ have happened afterwards. Spoiler alert: It doesn't involve Juliette sleeping with Jeff Fordham. Who knew?!**

**I tried to stick a close to the actual plot as possible, but I did take some liberties here and there. Also, quick note: I will be updating my other Nashville fics in the very near future...Hope you enjoy!**

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Scarlett was rushed off stage, barely clinging to Avery. Juliette led the pair off stage as Avery screamed, "Kill the lights!"

Once behind the glazing eyes of fans, everyone crowded around Scarlett. A stretcher appeared out of nowhere and Avery gently laid her down. Paramedics took over and Juliette was bombarded by her management and show personnel before she could check on the scene. She was in a daze, and only let their words rumble around her as her eyes were fixated on her boyfriend running into the ambulance with his ex-girlfriend.

"The show is cancelled." Glenn told her and she shot him a look.

"Really Glenn? I had no idea, I wonder why!" she ripped off her earpiece and stormed to her dressing room, leaving Glenn in the dust.

Reporters and people were about and she wore a face that said _come within a foot of me and you're dead. _Once the starlet's door was slammed shut she took a look around. Avery's guitar case and bag was on the couch and his coat draped over the arm right next to hers.

Glenn cautiously followed in, "We have to talk about what happened out there, I know you're upset and-"

"That was my stage she fell on, my boyfriend she was clinging to."

"Okay I know, I know, and maybe…"

"Glenn I'm sorry could you just please leave me for a minute." she softened.

Glenn nodded and shut the door, "Of course."

Juliette knew that she should care more that her tour mate just had a serious mental breakdown right on stage. She knew she should care that this probably was going to mean the end of Scarlett's career, at least for the time being. She knew she should care that this was going to have some major repercussions at Highway 65, and that she may get the blame somewhere along the line. But all Juliette cared about, staring at that guitar case, was the fact that her boyfriend, the man she loved, was currently acting as the lifeline for his ex-girlfriend.

It wasn't as much jealousy as it was insecurity. Even though she was 100% certain Avery loved her too, the fact that he remained so close to "miss perfect" always bothered her. O'Connor was a beautiful, talented, harmless, sweet singer-songwriter, and Juliette was a hard, my-way-or-the-highway, mistake-ridden, P.R. nightmare...it just never seemed to make sense.

Instead of letting her insecurities overcome her, Juliette did what she did best...let her anger instead. She grabbed her coat and then his too, and headed out the door.

Bo immediately flanked her, "I want to go to the hospital to see Scarlett, Avery forgot his jacket and I wanna check up on her."

Without question her loyal bodyguard nodded and they got in the car. Juliette was escorted to the private wing of the hospital where Scarlett was and stood at the doorway. She was about to go in, expecting Scar's mother...but what she saw broke her heart. Avery was pressed up against her bed, holding her hand and wiping the hair out of her face. He looked lovingly at her as she softly, consciously cried.

Juliette stepped back, feeling the tears gather in her eyes. Avery was too good of a guy to let Scarlett go alone, but it was the fact that he was _always_ there for his ex, the fact that he had to be the only one to take care of her, and talk to her and hold her made it seem like something more was going on. _Anyone_ from the label could have made sure she was okay, and Avery didn't bother to even look at Juliette before he left.

Juliette fought herself in that doorway. The old her was ready to run and hurt him like he was hurting her. She wanted the physical satisfaction of ruining the one good thing she'd ever had in her life. But that one good began to speak so she listened,

"Scarlett, we've been through a lot together. You were my first love and you'll always have a permanent piece of my heart."

Juliette's heart was breaking fast, and she recognized the feeling. But this one hurt a lot more than when Sean did it, or when Charlie did it, or when Dante did it. So she stayed in the doorway, knowing that it was gonna hurt like hell. Even though it was painful, she stayed because the fact that it hurt so much meant that what she managed to create with Avery was something special...something worth feeling the pain.

"But you remember that day, last year when I was being an absolute jerk and Gunner came in and beat the crap out of me?" he laughed fondly, "After that I came to realize he wasn't just some punk being angry...it was a man who loved his girl more than anything and wanted to protect her. And it's now I can see it's true, you know, I would kill someone if they even got close to Juliette."

Juliette's heart caught up to her brain as she replayed that line over and over again, "A man who loved his girl more than anything." He loved her more than anything.

"I'm so in love with Juliette it's crazy." he admitted to his ex with a goofy smile and behind the door Juliette's face immediately broke into a huge grin, "When I'm with her it's everything is magically okay. She is the only one who makes me smile no matter what and we both know that I can't do that for you. Gunner is the one you want...the one you need...sitting here right now."

Juliette's tears continued to flow, but this time for a different reason. He had to have been Yoda in a past life. His wisdom was beyond his years, and she loved that part about him three hundred times more now. He knew all along that Gunner was the one who was going to make it okay- he was just a lousy stand-in before the man got here.

And those statements on love: someone who makes you smile no matter what, who makes you feel like everything is always okay….it was so beautiful and so so true. She was falling even more in love with him and Juliette sniffled in a tear knowing that he felt exactly the same way.

Scarlett weakly smiled, "Gunnar."

Avery smiled back, "See, look at that."

Scarlett shifted, "He's not going to want to be here. I'm a mess, and he's with Zoey."

Avery shook his head, "The person who truly loves you will always be there, especially you're a mess. And Gunnar's on his way right now."

Juliette let that sentence sink in, "especially when you're a mess." She thought back to the height of the Wentworth scandal, when literally everything was collapsing around her. Avery was the one constant, always there supporting her, no matter what. She chuckled, knowing that she should have realized how amazing he was a lot sooner.

Gunner came running down the hall, "Juliette Barnes, hey, I'm Gunnar Scott." he introduced himself nervously panting, "I'm Scarlett's boyfriend-kind of- um, is there a line to get in or something.."

Juliette sweetly smiled and motioned to the door, "She's all yours."

He let out a sigh, "Thank you, nice meeting you, ma'am I'm a big fan of your work and-"

She laughed, "Just tell my boyfriend to get out of there and go talk to your girl."

Gunnar looked in and made eye contact with Avery. Avery instantly stood up and went to his friend, "She really needs you right now." he whispered.

"No place I'd rather be, thanks, Avery."

"No problem." Avery lamented, shifting out of the room. When he stepped through the threshold he continued forward, unaware of Juliette in the doorway.

He took a few steps down the hall until his vision was suddenly impaired. He immediately reached up on his head to remove a jacket...his jacket...that had magically been thrown over his face. He turned around to find the culprit in none other than Miss Juliette Barnes, who wore a timid look.

"You forgot your jacket." She said nervously with a small smile. Avery knew this was her way of resetting things between them, so he sauntered over with a smile.

"You came all the way here to give me my jacket?" he asked with a cocked eyebrow, seeing what she knew.

"...And maybe I wanted to check up on you or something." Juliette coyly, yet honestly, replied.

Avery nodded and bit his lip, "That's my girl." he said, breaking a smile.

Juliette walked closer to him and collided into his arms. She breathed in all six feet of her incredible boyfriend and hung on tighter. As they both knew, Juliette wasn't the most touchy-feely person, but in the right time with the right person, skin-to-skin contact was absolutely necessary.

"Before you say anything." Juliette said, as they mutually agreed to get out of this hospital, "I heard what you said to Scarlett, and I just really admire how good of a person you are. I wish I could be as generous and selfless and wise as you but the more time I spend with you I know that its not possible."

"Well…" he drawed out, grabbing her hand and making her heart leap for just a second, "While those words weren't necessarily for your ears, I'm glad you heard them."

"It's not that I didn't trust you or know that you-"

"Ah ah ah." he stopped her as they walked down the streets of Nashville. The water sparkled on the warm spring day and Juliette made a face at Avery over his reaction.

"What?"

"There is one thing I regret from today." he said in his cryptic ways.

"If I wanted to date Yoda I would have by now." she rolled her eyes, citing his mysterious sayings and his hand left hers to momentarily throw his arm around her shoulder and tug her closer. They both laughed and Avery squeezed her shoulder, "I regret that I said all those things about you to my ex-girlfriend… and not to you."

Juliette wasn't mad at all. She genuinely appreciated Avery's lamentation and despite the little battles they got themselves into, at the end of the day they always found their way back to each other.

"Even Mr. Perfect has a kink in his armor." she squinted at him, with the smallest of smiles breaking from her lips.

"Oh, okay, Mr. Perfect, I see how it is." he teased along. Avery looked down at the country pop star for about the millionth time. Each time their eyes made contact it was something special. But right then and there, something ignited in him and he knew 100% that this was it. He loved her, that much had been certain, but now he had all the confidence and courage to spit it out...this time to the right girl.

"I love you, Juliette." he breathed, taking a chance to glance at her last-second to gauge a reaction.

He didn't know what he was fearing, but almost instantly she tapped her head against his shoulder affectionately, "I love you too."

Avery nervously laughed, and wore a soft smile.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking up.

"I've dreamt about this moment for a really long time and I severely underestimated how good it would feel."

Juliette busted out laughing and Avery rolled his eyes, "Are you making fun of me right now?!" he joked.

"That's just the sweetest thing I've ever heard." she laughed, gripping his arm tighter. They made eye contact for a second, and he couldn't look away. She was truly the most beautiful human being he'd ever met.

"Stop looking at me like that or I'm gonna say some more cheesy things that you'll make fun of me for!"

"I love cheese." she winked.

"And I love you." Avery breathed, not able to help it.

"I know." Juliette says, "I knew it before you even told Scarlett. For the first time in forever I am actually happy and it's all because I have you. I even told Charlie..."

"Wait, what about Charlie?"

"When he...kissed me…" she cringed as she brought up, "First of all I almost threw up."

Avery laughed, and she nodded, "Anyway, when he kissed me I stopped and told him I was with someone, and he guessed it was you."

"He knew my name?" Avery quizzically looked at her. They were seated on a bench next to the river and the bridge. His arm was wrapped affectionately around her and her hand was placed inside his jacket, lightly scratching his back.

Juliette cocked her jaw, "Not exactly."

"Let me guess, I was the roadie with the weird hair and guitar who always hung around you."

"Bingo!" she clapped, laughing at how accurate Avery's description matched up with Charlie's, "He was kinda right, you did hang around me a lot."

"We were friends." Avery defended himself.

"But…" Juliette waited.

"But maybe I kind of sort of liked you."

"Kinda sorta?"

"Yeah I mean I guess I was pretty into you back in the day." Avery tried to play it cool.

"Not anymore though, right, just to clear it up." Juliette went along with the joke.

"No, no, yeah, I'm way over that." Avery laughed, breaking character and squeezing her tighter. Juliette reached up to place a kiss on his cheek.

"I told Charlie that you were a talented songwriter and producer, and I kept thinking of you and all of a sudden, without even crossing my mind I said, 'I love him.'"

"You know what, I'm glad you told him first." Avery stuck his chin out all proud, "Did he shrink in defeat?"

Juliette laughed, "Actually he kissed me again and said, "Did I change your mind?"

Avery looked like he was going to throw up and Juliette continued to smile at her boyfriend's cuteness, "Obviously I laughed at him and I said, "hell no."

"Come here." he grabbed her face and he placed tiny butterfly kisses all around her mouth. Avery felt her smile and it only made his heart swell 1000x more, "Let's get all that Wentworth out."

She laughed and started reciprocating the kisses, "Mmmm, Barkley, the only person I ever want on the other side of these lips is you."

Avery's eyes twinkled and he couldn't help the grin that overtook his face, "I think I can live with that."


End file.
